The Vice President of Cuba, Salvador Valdés Mesa, called this Sunday not to ignore what he described as an “irrational attack” by the United States Government against Venezuela, during the opening of the IV Summit between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU), held in Santa Marta, Colombia.
According to EFE, Valdés Mesa warned about “the ongoing deployment of a US offensive military operation in the Caribbean under the false pretext of the fight against drug trafficking,” and described this action as “an unacceptable threat of aggression” that puts regional sovereignty and stability at risk.
The vice president reiterated Cuba’s “invariable support” for the Venezuelan government and people, and asked the international community to mobilize “to stop this direct aggression and military actions in the Caribbean, which endanger regional peace, stability and security.”
His statement comes amid the largest US military deployment in the Caribbean since the 1962 missile crisis, according to analysts William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh. According to both researchers, the White House—under a second term of Donald Trump—has positioned ten warships and some 10,000 soldiers off the coast of Venezuela, in what they describe as an operation “under the pretext of combating drug trafficking,” but whose true objective would be to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and cut off the flow of oil to Cuba, in an attempt to cause “the collapse of the Cuban government,” an old aspiration of the American Republican right.
“With the military deployment against Venezuela, the US also sets its sights on Cuba,” analysts warn
During his speech, Valdés Mesa urged to strengthen the ties between CELAC and the European Union on the basis of mutual respect, sovereign equality and non-interference in the internal affairs of States. He also considered the progress made since the last bi-regional summit held in Brussels to be “insufficient” and advocated for “more solidarity and collaborative” cooperation.
The Cuban representative also rejected the exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas, and thanked the support expressed by the majority of countries in the region for the recent United Nations resolution that demands the end of the US embargo against the island.
The IV CELAC-EU Summit concludes this Sunday with the approval of the so-called “Santa Marta Declaration”, aimed at strengthening cooperation between both regions in terms of development, inclusion and political dialogue.
EFE/OnCuba
